(File Photo)

FILE – Ford Motor Co., President and CEO Jim Farley announces the automaker’s new BlueOval Battery Park, Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, in Romulus, Mich. Ford’s top executive says that last fall’s contentious United Auto Workers’ strike changed the company’s relationship with the union to the point where it will “think carefully” about where it builds future vehicles. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer
DETROIT (AP) — Last fall’s contentious United Auto Workers’ strike changed Ford’s relationship with the union to the point where it will “think carefully” about where it builds future vehicles, Ford’s top executive said Thursday.
CEO Jim Farley told the Wolfe Research Global Auto Conference in New York that the company always took pride in its relationship with the UAW, having avoided strikes since the 1970s.
But last year, Ford’s highly profitable factory in Louisville, Kentucky, was the first truck plant that the UAW shut down with a strike.
Farley said as the company looks at the transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles, “we have to think carefully about our (manufacturing) footprint.”
Ford, Farley said, decided to build all of its highly profitable big pickup trucks in the U.S., and by far has the most union members — 57,000 — of any Detroit automaker. This came at a higher cost than competitors, who went through bankruptcy and built truck plants in Mexico, he said. But Ford thought it was the “right kind of cost,” Farley said.
“Our reliance on the UAW turned out to be we were the first truck plant to be shut down,” Farley told the conference. “Really our relationship has changed. It’s been a watershed moment for the company. Does this have business impact? Yes.”
The UAW made strong wage gains after a six-week strike at selected plants run by Ford, General Motors and Jeep maker Stellantis. Top-scale factory workers won 33% raises in a contract that runs through April of 2028, taking their top wage to around $42 per hour.
A message was left Thursday seeking comment from the union.
High manufacturing costs are among the reasons why Ford has a $7 billion annual cost disadvantage to competitors, Farley has said. He told the conference that Ford is making progress on cutting those costs with cultural and structural changes at the company.
It expects to take out $2 billion worth of costs this year, and Farley said he thinks cuts in manufacturing costs will “fully offset” the cost of the UAW contract. Ford has said the contract would add $900 to the cost of a vehicle by the time it reaches full effect.
Ford has shifted its electric vehicle strategy so it concentrates on smaller, lower priced EVs and electric work vehicles such as pickup trucks and full-size vans, Farley said. Any EV larger than a Ford Escape small SUV “better be really functional or a work vehicle.”
A small team within the company is developing the underpinnings of a less costly smaller vehicle, which Farley said would be profitable because of U.S. federal tax credits as high as $7,500 per vehicle.
He gave no time frame for the small EV to come out, but said Ford’s next generation of electric vehicles would come in the 2025 through 2027 time frame.
His comments about the union raise questions about whether the new small EV would be built in Mexico, which has lower labor costs. Vehicles built in North America are still eligible for the U.S. tax credit.
Farley also said he sees EV battery prices coming down with more competition. The company, he said, may go with a common cylinder-shaped battery cell to leverage purchasing and get better prices. He also said Ford might do that with another automaker.
Ford’s Model e, the electric vehicle unit, lost nearly $5 billion before taxes last year. Farley wouldn’t give a date for it to break even, but said any new EV built by the company has to make money within 12 months of its release.
The company still posted net income of $4.3 billion due largely to big profits from its Pro commercial vehicle unit and Ford Blue, the internal combustion division.
Farley said Ford and others will have trouble competing on EVs with Chinese automakers, which are likely to sell 10 million of them this year. It’s a big reason why Ford has recruited management talent to focus on lean operations, he said.
Chinese automakers, he said, went from selling no EVs in Europe two years ago to 10% of the market now.
Chinese auto giant BYD ‘s Seagull small electric vehicle, he said, has about $9,000 in material costs, and it will probably cost the company another $2,000 to meet crash test standards, for a total cost of around $11,000. It has a range of about 150 miles in cold weather, “not a fantastic vehicle, but pretty damn good.”
Shares of Ford fell 1.7% to $12.35 in midday trading on Thursday.

HORSHAM, Pa. (AP) — A mother who strangled her 11-year-old son at their Pennsylvania home last year and then went to New Jersey where she drove her SUV into the ocean has been convicted of murder.
Ruth DiRienzo-Whitehead, 51, of Horsham, faces a mandatory life term when she’s sentenced Friday. She was found guilty Thursday following a bench trial.
DiRienzo-Whitehead’s lawyers argued she strangled her son, Matthew Whitehead, with a belt on April 10 because she was having a psychotic break due to financial concerns and family issues, and felt she was sparing her son a painful life. A defense expert testified DiRienzo-Whitehead was suffering from depression and mental illness at the time.
Montgomery County prosecutors argued the killing was premeditated, saying she had made numerous online searches on how to strangle someone and did research on mental illnesses that lead women to kill their own children. They also said DiRienzo-Whitehead blamed her husband for the family’s financial issues and was motivated to kill by a mix of anger and revenge.
After killing her son, DiRienzo-Whitehead drove to Cape May, New Jersey, where her SUV was found partially submerged in the ocean. She was later found walking in nearby Wildwood Crest, where she was taken into custody.

FILE – The exterior of the Pennsylvania Judicial Center, home to the Commonwealth Court, Feb. 21, 2023, in Harrisburg, Pa. Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Aug. 22, handed a victory to the state chapter of the ACLU, ruling that the state police must provide an unredacted copy of its policy about how it uses software to monitor social media accounts. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s state courts agency said Thursday that it never received a ransom demand as part of a cyberattack that briefly shut down some of its online services earlier this month and prompted a federal investigation.
The attack, called a “denial of services” attack, on the website of the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts disabled some online portals and systems that were all fully restored this week, officials said.
The attack didn’t compromise any data or stop the courts from operating on a normal schedule, officials said.
A courts agency spokesperson said officials there never received a ransom demand from the attackers, never had any communication with the attackers and never paid anything to meet any sort of demand.
The state Supreme Court’s chief justice, Debra Todd, said a federal investigation was continuing.
Neither the courts nor the FBI or the federal government’s lead cybersecurity agency, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, have identified the attacker. There have been no apparent claims of responsibility.
In a statement, Todd said the “significant and serious” attack was “orchestrated by a faceless and nameless virtual opponent who was intent on attacking our infrastructure and orchestrating a shutdown of our state judicial system.”
“These anonymous actors attempted to undermine our mission to make justice accessible and to shutter the operation of the statewide court system,” Todd said.
A “denial of service” cyberattack is common and happens when attackers flood the targeted host website or network with traffic or requests until the site is overwhelmed or crashes.
The attack comes after Kansas’ judicial branch was the victim of what it called a ” sophisticated cyberattack ” late last year from which it took months and millions of dollars to recover. That attack was blamed on a Russia-based group.
Major tech companies Google Cloud, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services have been hit by such attacks in recent years, as have financial institutions. In 2022, some U.S. airport sites were hit. Some of the biggest attacks have been attributed to Russian or Chinese hackers.
Cybersecurity experts say denial-of-service hackers are often state-backed actors seeking money and can use tactics to try to hide their identity. Such attacks also can be used to mask an underlying attack, such as a ransomware attack, experts say.
Networking experts can defuse the attacks by diverting the flood of internet traffic.
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Follow Marc Levy at twitter.com/timelywriter.

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMC) will celebrate the Commonwealth’s 343rd birthday on Sunday, March 10, with free admission to many of the historic sites and museums along the Pennsylvania Trails of History and an exhibit of William Penn’s 1681 Charter at the Pennsylvania State Archives.

Pennsylvania was created when England’s King Charles II granted a charter to William Penn in March 1681. The 343-year-old Charter, often referred to as Pennsylvania’s birth certificate, is written on parchment using iron gall ink. The Pennsylvania State Archives preserves the document in a high-security vault, shielding it from strong light and environmental fluctuations.

The 1681 Charter will be on display on Sunday, March 10, from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM, at the new Pennsylvania State Archives facility, 1681 N. Sixth Street, Harrisburg.

State-owned historic sites and museums along the Pennsylvania Trails of History will offer free admission on Sunday, March 10.

Participating historic sites and museums include:

 

• Brandywine Battlefield Park, Chadds Ford
• Bushy Run Battlefield, Jeannette
• Conrad Weiser Homestead, Womelsdorf
• Cornwall Iron Furnace, Cornwall
• Daniel Boone Homestead, Birdsboro
• Drake Well Museum, Titusville
• Eckley Miners’ Village, Weatherly
• Ephrata Cloister, Ephrata
• Fort Pitt Museum, Pittsburgh
• Graeme Park, Horsham
• Joseph Priestley House, Northumberland
• Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum, Lancaster
• Pennsbury Manor, Morrisville
• Pennsylvania Anthracite Heritage Museum, Scranton
• Pennsylvania Lumber Museum, Ulysses
• Pennsylvania Military Museum, Boalsburg
• Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg
• Somerset Historical Center, Somerset
• State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg

The Pennsylvania Trails of History comprises museums and historic sites administered by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, organized along four theme-based “trails” crossing the commonwealth: Military History, Industrial Heritage, Historic Homes, and Rural Farm & Village.

The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission is the official history agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Learn more by visiting PHMC online or following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn.

 

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and NICK INGRAM Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The mass shooting that unfolded amid throngs of people at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration appeared to stem from a dispute between several people, authorities said Thursday.
Police Chief Stacey Graves said that the 22 people injured in the shooting ranged between the ages of 8 and 47 years old, half of whom were under the age of 16. A mother of two was also killed.
Three people were detained — including two juveniles — and firearms were recovered during the mayhem, police said. But investigators are calling for witnesses, people with cellphone footage and victims of the violence to call a dedicated hotline.
“We are working to determine the involvement of others. And it should be noted we have recovered several firearms. This incident is still a very active investigation,” Graves said at a news conference.
The shooting outside Union Station occurred despite the presence of more than 800 police officers who were in the building and nearby, including on top of nearby structures, said Mayor Quinton Lucas, who attended with his wife and mother and ran for safety when the shots rang out. But he doesn’t expect to cancel the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day parade.
“We have parades all the time. I don’t think they’ll end. Certainly we recognized the public safety challenges and issues that relate to them,” Lucas said.
Throngs had lined the parade route before the shooting, with fans climbing trees and street poles or standing on rooftops for a better view. Players rolled through the crowd on double-decker buses, as DJs and drummers heralded their arrival.
It’s unclear exactly how many people attended the Chief’s Super Bowl parade. When the Kansas City Royals won the World Series in 2015, an estimated 800,000 people had flocked to that victory parade, shattering expectations in a city with a population of about 470,000 and a metropolitan area of about 2 million.
Witnesses described confusion as gunshots began, sounding to some like fireworks.
Some people didn’t run at first but others immediately scrambled for cover. The rally music initially continued playing despite the havoc. And then, within moments of the shooting stopping, some people were walking as if nothing happened.
Gene Hamilton, 61, of Wichita, Kansas, said he found it unnerving that the upbeat rally music continued among the confusion.
“If people are shooting, they should change the music,” he said.
Ashley Coderre, a 36-year-old from Overland Park, Kansas, said she heard two or three shots after walking out of a Panera near Crown Center, a couple blocks from Union Station. She said people were running and yelling.
Then suddenly she said people were walking around like nothing had happened: “We were so confused.”
It is the latest sports celebration in the U.S. to be marred by gun violence, following a shooting that wounded several people last year in Denver after the Nuggets’ NBA championship and gunfire last year at a parking lot near the Texas Rangers’ World Series championship parade.
Social media users posted shocking video of police running through Wednesday’s crowded scene as people scrambled for cover and fled. One video showed someone apparently performing chest compressions on a victim as another person, seemingly writhing in pain, lay on the ground nearby. People screamed in the background.
Another video showed two people chase and tackle a person, holding them down until two police officers arrived. In an interview Thursday with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Trey Filter of Wichita, Kansas, said he saw someone being chased and took action.
“I couldn’t see much. I heard, ‘Get ’em!’ I saw a flash next to me. And I remember I jumped and remember thinking, ‘I hope this is the fool they were talking about,'” he said. “They started yelling that, ‘There’s a gun! There’s a gun!'”
Filter said he and another man kept the person pinned down until officers arrived. “I remember the officers pulling my feet off of him and at that point I was just looking for my wife and kids,” he said.
It was not immediately clear if the person he held down was involved in the shooting, but Filter’s wife, Casey, saw a gun nearby and picked it up.
The woman killed in the shooting was identified by radio station KKFI-FM as Lisa Lopez-Galvan, host of “Taste of Tejano.”
Lopez-Galvan, whose DJ name was “Lisa G,” was an extrovert and devoted mother from a prominent Latino family in the area, said Rosa Izurieta and Martha Ramirez, two childhood friends who worked with her at a staffing company.
“She’s the type of person who would jump in front of a bullet for anybody — that would be Lisa,” Izurieta said.
Kansas City has long struggled with gun violence, and in 2020 it was among nine cities targeted by the U.S. Justice Department in an effort to crack down on violent crime. In 2023, the city matched a record with 182 homicides, most of which involved guns.
Lucas has joined with mayors across the country in calling for new laws to reduce gun violence, including mandating universal background checks.
“We did everything to make this event as safe as possible,” Lucas, a Democrat, said in an interview on KMBC-TV Thursday. “But as long as we have fools who will commit these types of acts, as long as we have their access to firearms with this level of capacity, then we may see incidents like this one.”
The parade and rally were the third in five years after Chiefs’ Super Bowl wins. Lucas said it may be time to reconsider how to handle the next one if they win again, perhaps holding a “vastly smaller event” at Arrowhead Stadium, with fans going through metal detectors.
Lisa Money of Kansas City was trying to gather some confetti near the end of the parade when she heard somebody yell, “Down, down, everybody down!” At first she thought it might be a joke, until she saw the SWAT team jumping over the fence.
“I can’t believe it really happened,” Money said. “Who in their right mind would do something like this?”
University Health spokesperson Leslie Carto said two of the eight gunshot victims brought to the hospital are still in critical condition. One is in stable condition. The other five have been discharged. The hospital also treated four people from the rally who had nongunshot injuries. Three of those patients were discharged, Carto said.
Stephanie Meyer, chief nursing officer for Children’s Mercy Kansas City, said it was treating 12 patients from the rally, including 11 children between the ages of 6 and 15, many of whom suffered gunshot wounds. All were expected to recover, she said.
When asked about the condition of the children, Meyer responded: “Fear. The one word I would use to describe what we saw and how they came to us was fear.”
St. Luke’s Hospital spokesperson Emily Hohenberg said one gunshot victim at the hospital remains in critical condition. Four people who suffered injuries while fleeing the aftermath of the shooting were treated and released.
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Associated Press writers Scott McFetridge in Des Moines, Iowa; Jim Salter in St. Louis; Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; Summer Ballentine in Columbia, Missouri; and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.

CANONSBURG, Pa – In preparation for a major pipeline replacement project in May, Columbia Gas crews will be working along a stretch of Route 51 (Coraopolis Road) west of Herbst Road, conducting inspections on public rights-of-way and customer properties, locating and marking underground facilities, and, if necessary, replacing customer service lines, or moving indoor gas meters outside.

Work is expected to begin on Feb. 19, weather permitting, and take place Mondays through Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Motorists may experience lane restrictions and traffic delays during working hours, and Saturday work also is possible.

All company and contract employees carry photo ID badges identifying them as Columbia Gas employees or contractors. Customers are encouraged to ask for ID before allowing anyone into their home, or they can call 1-888-460-4332 for Columbia Gas employee verification.

Motorists traveling through the Columbia Gas work zone should exercise caution and be prepared for slowed or temporarily stopped traffic during working hours. Motorists encountering Columbia Gas work crews should follow these simple tips:

• Expect the unexpected – Normal speed limits may be reduced; traffic lanes may change; and people may be working on or near the road.
• Slow down – Speeding is one of the major causes of work zone crashes.
• Keep your distance – Keep a safe distance between you and the car ahead of you, and don’t tailgate.
• Pay attention to the signs – Observe the posted signs until you see the one that says you’ve left the work zone.
• Obey road crew flaggers – A flagger has the same authority as a regulatory sign, so you can be cited for disobeying his or her directions.
• Stay alert and minimize distractions – Dedicate your full attention to the roadway and avoid changing radio stations or using cell phones while driving.

Information on Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania’s commitment to safety, including the importance of calling 811 before you dig, home and appliance safety, and steps to take if you smell natural gas can be found at www.ColumbiaGasPA.com/safety.

Representative Robert Matzie speaks with the press. Governor Tom Wolf today joined students, educators and elected officials in the Aliquippa School District in Beaver County to celebrate the administration’s historic $3.7 billion investment in public education over the past eight years. SEPTEMBER 22, 2022 – ALIQUIPPA, PA

Would allow residents to benefit from community solar projects 

HARRISBURG, Feb. 15 – The Pennsylvania House Consumer Protection, Technology and Utilities Committee heard testimony Wednesday on legislation (H.B. 1842) that would create a community solar program in Pennsylvania, according to the committee’s majority chairman, state Rep. Rob Matzie.

Matzie said agency staff, industry representatives and other stakeholders shared potential benefits – and some concerns – about the bill, which would allow residents who are unable to install their own solar equipment to subscribe to a community-generated solar program. 

“We heard a lot of promising information about what community solar could do for PA in terms of job creation, reduced ratepayer costs, greater energy independence and new revenue sources for landowners like farmers,” Matzie said. “But we also heard concerns regarding ensuring that costs are not shifted to customers who choose not to participate.

“Having an all-energy portfolio that isn’t reliant on a single source is important for PA’s energy independence and for ensuring that we continue to export energy now and in the decades to come. But, as with all legislation we review, our committee is going to act deliberately and carefully, getting a dialogue moving and ensuring that any legislation we advance is crafted to protect PA consumers.”

(Photo courtesy of Rep. Deluzio’s Office)

CARNEGIE, PA — Yesterday, Congressman Chris Deluzio (PA-17) visited the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Moon Township to learn about their work to protect his constituents’ lives and property in Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District, as well as in 35 counties in Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, and Northern West Virginia. The NWS is under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is under the umbrella of the United States Department of Commerce. Congressman Deluzio took the opportunity to highlight ways that his constituents can be safe, prepared, and weather ready.

“Western Pennsylvania can get slippy and snowy, and we experience all kinds of extreme weather, so I want to thank our first responders for all they do to help the public during major weather events,” said Rep. Deluzio. “It’s my job, and the job of the National Weather Service here in Western PA, to inform people on what’s coming our way and to help them be prepared. This winter, I urge Western Pennsylvanians to be weather ready: that means check the forecast, store three days of water and food, modify plans or equipment for safety as necessary, and make an emergency plan for your household.”

“Our region experiences many types of hazardous weather, including winter storms, river flooding, thunderstorms and tornadoes,” said Jeff Craven, meteorologist-in-charge of the National Weather Service forecast office in Pittsburgh. “Western Pennsylvanians can increase their resilience to extreme weather through a few simple steps: prepare in advance, check the forecast at weather.gov, and modify plans when necessary to prioritize safety. The National Weather Service is on duty to support local public safety decisions 24/7, 365 days per year, and we thank Representative Deluzio for visiting our office to amplify the importance of weather preparedness.